Greetings from Kampala

Greetings from Kampala!



After two fulls days and nights of airports and flying, we safely arrived at Entebbe International Airport, which was about 45 minutes south of Kampala, the capitol of Uganda. Because of our layover in London, we were able to go out into the city, wander around, get some exercise, and eat fish and chips. It was nice to be out of the airport for several hours.



We arrived at 7:45 am Uganda time. Uganda time is 7 hours ahead of South Carolina. I have been wearing two watches, but now have taken off the South Carolina watch. First impressions: Uganda is beautiful. The soil is is red, the foliage is green, and everyone is very friendly. Actually, I noticed several of the same types of trees as in South Carolina. The weather is warm; I would say low 80s with a nice breeze and very little humidity. It is much nicer here that South Carolina right now.



We dropped off our stuff at the Backpacker's Hostel in Kampala, had time to freshen up (but no shower yet) and left to go to Garden City, a shopping center to pick up supplies and exchange money. The exchange rate is $1= 2100 shillings, so I am carrying around large bills (but it's not a lot of money). After taking care of that, we headed to Lubiri Secondary School, a really good school here in Gulu. We met Michael, Joley's brother from the IC videos, who teaches at Lubiri. He showed us around. Amy, the head of the Teacher Exchange, wants us to compare this school with the schools we will be at in Gulu. I have a feeling it will be similar to South Carolina urban schools vs. Corridor of Shame schools. We visited the library, a science classroom, an art classroom, the teacher's lounge, dormitories, etc. It is very basic, very clean and the children are beautiful. Everyone was very friendly and very excited to answer our questions. I feel that the students here truly get how fortunate they are to be able to attend school, and the government seems to really promote education as it pays for the top students from the schools to attend university.

Group 2 is great. Most of us met on Saturday while waiting for the flight to London. It feels as if we have known each other a long time and were just catching up. I look forward to learning from the people of Uganda as well as the people in Group 2. They are fun to be around.

We are resting for a couple of hours before we head to an Indian restuarant for dinner. I am exhausted and very excited about sleeping horizontally tonight.